(Sharecast News) - Irish building materials group Kingspan said on Tuesday that first-half profit and sales are set to be ahead of the previous year and 2019 as the momentum reported in April has continued into the second quarter.
In a brief update ahead of its first-half results in August, the company said most key markets are "strongly ahead" of the first half of 2020 and 2019.

"We reported in April that we had a strong order backlog at that point and this has grown further in the period since," it said. "Raw material inflation has continued at record levels, a situation which is ongoing and expected to continue through the summer months at least."

As a result, Kingspan now expects sales in the first half of 2021 to be around €2.9bn, up from €2.1bn in H1 2020 and €2.2bn in 2019. Meanwhile, trading profit is expected to rise to approximately €315m from €200m in H1 2020 and €230m in 2019.

The group also said it has completed the acquisition of Denmark-based Logstor.